Hella Tender is a day-long embrace of culture featuring people who love Chinatown, activating art throughout the neighborhood. Community based artists will be hosting free exhibitions, art workshops, and film screening, in various small businesses and public spaces in Chinatown. Hella Tender uplifts Chinatown’s active legacy of mutualism and community care.
“We think back to those moments in the early parts of the pandemic — how people rose up and took care of one another,” said curators of Hella Tender, Carmen and Vida. “It was unlike anything we’ve ever seen. At the same time, narratives around crime and public safety have cast Asian communities as perpetual victims and pitted communities of color against one another. Hella Tender is a rejection of the blanketed victimhood narration cast upon Chinatown people and instead uplifts how each person is capable of caring for their neighbors and community. That in its essence is Chinatown’s spirit: hella tender.”
Hella Tender is: that moment when your neighbor checks up on you, the sound of youth and elders playing at 花園角Faa Yun Gok, 湯水 taang seoi ready for you at the end of the day, embracing a familiar face on the streets, the smell of freshly steamed man tou — knowing you are safe. HELLA TENDER is building and creating community care, knowing the structures of capitalism have failed us. Community continues to prove that collective care is a muscle everyone is capable of when we lean on each other.
Please join us on Saturday, 5/14, for a day seeking tenderness through arts at the heart of Chinatown.
This event is an extension of Love Letters to Chinatown Bay Area by Carmen Chen陳嘉文 and Vida Kuang 鄺楚瑩
Hella Tender「友好親切」是一個為期一天的社區體驗活動，邀請所有熱愛華埠的人擁抱華埠文化，並利用藝術激活整個社區。社區藝術家將在華埠各處的小商家和公共場所舉辦免費展覽,藝術工作坊,和電影放映。 Hella Tender「友好親切」希望藉此機會提升華埠的互惠互利和社區關懷的傳統。
Hella Tender「友好親切」的策展人Carmen和Vida道：「我們回想起大流行初期的那些時刻——社區是如何站出來相互照顧彼此。那是我們過去從未見過的事。 同時，很多圍繞著犯罪和公共安全的敘述將亞裔社區形容成永久的受害者，並使有色人種社區被迫相互競爭。 Hella Tender「友好親切」拒絕對華埠居民以偏概全的受害者敘述，反之強調每個平凡人皆有能力照顧關懷鄰居和社區。這本質就是華埠的精神：友好親切。」
「友好親切」想表達的是每個微小但溫暖的時刻：你的鄰居隨意的一句問候「你身體還好嗎」、小孩和老人家在花園角玩耍的聲音、家人在一天結束時為你準備好的湯水、在街上迎接一張張熟悉的臉和剛蒸好的饅頭的味道—那些都是我們深刻體會的溫柔和安全感。 Hella Tender「友好親切」有意共同建立和延續社區關懷，因為我們明白資本主義的機器不會為人民運作。社區也一再證明，大家互相依靠就是對彼此的關懷與照應。
請在五月14日（星期六）加入我們，一起體會華埠的「友好親切」。
本次活動延伸自陳嘉文和鄺楚瑩「寫給華埠的情書」展覽
ART WORKSHOPS & EXHIBITION DATES
Offering free art workshops throughout SF Chinatown on May 14 from 12:30-5:30PM & pop-up exhibitions throughout the neighborhood during the month of May
CO-CURATORS
Carmen Chen 陳嘉文 and Vida Kuang 鄺楚瑩
CO-PRESENTED BY
AAWAA & Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center
FUNDED & SUPPORTED BY
This program is part of AAWAA’s Emerging Curators Program and partly funded by San Francisco Chinatown Merchants Association and Robert Joseph Louie Memorial Fund
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Jade Chocolates 手工巧克力
Sweetheart Cafe 心意甜品
CCSF 三藩市市立大學華埠北岸區分校
Community Youth Center, Chinatown Media & Arts Collaborative, San Francisco Parks & Recreation, Chinese Culture Center 社區青年中心、華埠媒體與藝術協作組、舊金山公園休閒管理局和舊金山華人文化中心
featured ARTISTS
特別介紹參展藝術家
POP-UP EXHIBITIONS
THROUGHOUT MAY 2022 | 整個五月
CURATORS’ STATEMENT
Hella Tender 友好親切 is: that moment when your neighbor checks up on you, the sound of youth and elders playing at 花園角Faa Yun Gok, embracing a familiar face on the streets, seeing foods like 湯水 taang seoi ready for you at the end of the day, grandparents holding freshly steamed man tou as they pick their grandkids from school — this is how safety feels like.
Narratives around crime and public safety have cast Asian communities as perpetual victims and pitted communities of color against one another.
Hella Tender 友好親切 is a rejection of the blanketed victimhood narration cast upon Chinatown people and instead uplifts how each person is capable of caring for their neighbors and community.
Hella Tender 友好親切 is about creating community care when the structures of capitalism have failed us.
Hella Tender 友好親切 celebrates Chinatown’s active legacy of intergenerational community care and reminds all that collective care is a muscle that any ordinary person is capable of.
Hella Tender 友好親切 is an opportunity to fight for the safety of all intersecting communities.
That in its essence is: hella tender.
Hella Tender features a series of new artwork for Chinatown, artists that includes:
「友好親切」現了一系列為華埠而設的藝術作品，參與藝術家包括：
Eryn Kimura &
Lei Zushun 雷祖舜
Location 地點: Jade Chocolates 手工巧克力
607 Grant Ave, San Francisco
eryn kimura (she, they) is a mixed media artist based in san francisco. eryn was born and raised in san francisco, on unceded ramaytush ohlone land. she is a fifth generation japanese- and chinese-american, with deep roots in san francisco's chinatown. working with collage, she composes cacophonous yet fractal visual symphonies, using fragments from print media and found ephemera. while scrutinizing mechanisms of hegemony in visual culture and memory, eryn employs the process of collage as alchemy, reimagining and archiving ancestral pasts and futures.
Eryn（她/她們）是一位居住在三藩的混合媒體藝術家。Eryn在三藩ramaytush ohlone「拉邁圖什 歐隆尼族」從未割讓的土地上出生長大。她是日裔和華裔的第五代移民，深深扎根於三藩華埠。通過使用拼貼，她用來自印刷媒體的碎片譜寫嘈雜紛亂的視覺交響曲，在其中找尋轉瞬即逝的年華。在視覺文化和記憶中審視霸權主義，Eryn通過拼貼的過程重新想像和紀錄祖先的過去和未來。
Zu Shun Lei, pen name Gong Lei. Because I am 88 years of age, people also call me a senior cartoonist. I have incidentally created art for several decades. When my friend asks what I have gained, I respond: For your laugh!
Zu Shun Lei 雷祖舜，筆名雷恭。因為年華八十八，所以亦稱老漫畫家。糊裡糊塗畫了好幾十年。有朋問及:有何體會，答曰: 只為一笑!
Claudia Leung 梁麗華 & Joyce Xi 郗雨姗
Location 地點: Chinatown City College of San Francisco
三藩市市立大學華埠北岸區分校
808 Kearny St & Washington St (street level windows), San Francisco
Artist Statement: Claudia Leung
My artistic practice focuses on the intersectionality of movements for justice, calling attention to the ways in which liberation for all communities is intertwined. My experience as a mixed race queer Asian activist with a disability informs my work, as does my participation in groups like Asians 4 Black Lives, doing art making for protests and direct action, as well as MOONROOT, a nation-wide zine collective of women, trans, and genderqueer folks of Asian and Pacific Islander descent living in diaspora. Find my work at @verbal.visual | @Asians4BlkLives | moonroot.info
總體介紹
我的藝術實踐側重於社會正義運動的交叉性，呼籲關注所有社區的放解和之中相互交織的關係。 我作為一位多族裔亞裔殘疾酷兒活動家，我的個人經歷深深影響了我的創作，如同我參與Asians 4 Black Lives，一個由亞裔組織、為非裔生命維權的團體，為抗議和直接行動進行藝術創作，以及MOONROOT，一個由在全美各地並散居海外的亞裔和太平洋島民後裔、跨性別和性別酷兒組成的小雜誌集體。有興趣關注我的作品，請洽 @verbal.visual | @Asians4BlkLives | moonroot.info
Building community, healing, and solidarity
Joyce Xi
This selection of photos documents community members coming together to express love and solidarity, to heal and care for one another, and to organize for change. In San Francisco and Oakland Chinatowns, and across the Bay/occupied Ohlone territory, people have shown up for each other during times of need.
These photos are also reminders of the solidarity, unity, and relationships that exist and are often not highlighted in mainstream narratives. While not overlooking how much work still needs to be done, there are many examples of solidarity within Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) communities and in the Asian American context. For example, Black and Indigenous community members have shown up for Asians amidst anti-Asian violence and xenophobia. Similarly, Asians have supported Black Lives Matter and opposed genocide and extraction in Indigenous communities on Indigenous lands. Given the many forces that challenge and try to divide us, these are opportunities to build unity and envision a future of healing and liberation for all of us.
As a photographer, I strive to document the living history of organizing and activism in relationship with the people and organizations that are part of it. I am often at these events as both a participant and a photographer. As a Chinese American, I hope to honor and celebrate Chinese and Asian American life in its richness and complexity.
構建社區、療癒和團結
藝術家自述：郗雨姗
這組照片記錄了社區成員們聚集在一起表達愛和團結、療癒和關心對方以及組織變革的點滴。在三藩和屋崙華埠以及灣區/歐隆尼族被佔領的土地上的人們，在相互需要對方的時候總能及時出現。
這些照片也令人想起聯結、團結和聯繫，主流敘事總是無法突顯它們的存在。雖然前路任重道遠，但在亞裔、非裔、原住民和其他有色人種社區還有很多無法忽視的團結的範例。比如，非裔和原住民社區成員現身聲援亞裔反抗反亞裔暴力和仇外心理。與之類似，亞裔也積極支持「黑人同命」並反對種族滅絕及在原住民土地上對原住民社區的壓榨。種種勢力試圖挑戰和分裂我們，但這也是我們建立團結並展望一個療癒和自由的未來的機會。
我作為一個攝影師，努力去紀錄組織的親歷歷史和其中參與社會運動的人們與機構之間的關係。我經常同時以參與者和攝影師的身份參與這些活動。作為一個華裔，我希望能致敬和讚美華裔和亞裔生活的豐富性和複雜性。
ART Activities 藝術活動
MAY 14 @ 12:30-2:30PM
ACTIVITY: PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP WITH ClauDIA LEUNG
Location 地點: Willie Woo Playground 黃顯護遊樂場 | 830 Sacramento St
“For my art activity, I'll be hosting an outdoor printmaking workshop. Attendees will be able to use simple printmaking techniques to make their own copies of designs that speak to Asian American diaspora and the concept of belonging. A make-and-take station will feature either block printing or screen printing tools, ink, paper, and a clothesline where images can dry. The clotheslines also are meant to emulate the iconic clotheslines seen hanging from windows and balconies all across Chinatown, which I grew up seeing. Although I have never lived in Chinatown, it is a place that has always felt welcoming, safe, and familiar for me throughout the years, as I grew into an activist based in San Francisco. I still feel a sense of comfort and familiarity whenever I visit. I hope to welcome participants into the workshop space with that same feeling of familiarity and home. After the 14th, any pieces that are remaining (if folks do not take them home) can be shared or displayed.”
版畫工作坊
說到我的藝術活動，我將會組織一個室外版畫工作坊。參與者可以使用簡單的版畫技術製作ta們自己的訴說流散亞裔和歸屬感的版畫。
工作坊會配備雕版印刷或絲網印刷的工具、墨水、紙張以及可以晾乾作品的晾衣繩。
晾衣繩也旨在模仿我從小到大看到的在華埠隨處可見標誌性的在窗外和陽台的晾衣繩。
儘管我從來沒有在華埠住過，但隨著我成長為現居三藩的社運人士，華埠多年來於我而言一直是一個讓我感到好客、安全和熟悉的地方。
無論我何時來訪，我總能感受到熟悉和舒適。
我希望能以相同的熟悉感和賓至如歸感來歡迎參加工作坊的各位。
在14號之後，任何留下的作品（如果大家不帶走的話）可以被分享或展示。
ACTIVITY: COLLAGE WORKSHOP with eryn kimura
Location 地點: Ellision Enterprise Co USA 依力臣企业有限公司 | 738 Washington St
“Collage has been a way for me to reflect, articulate, meditate, to care for my inner realm; a way to articulate the nameless facets of myself that are systematically overlooked. In this collage activation space, participants will have the community space to play, to tend to their gardens, to create, articulate their unsung songs. Culture is what we are all immersed in, what we are all creating, how we can create meaning and how we can create community, and in our case, care.”
拼貼畫是我反思、表達、冥想和關心我內心世界的一種方式； 一種表達我那些被系統忽略的、無名的我的方式。 在這個拼貼活動裡，參與者將共享社區空間來玩耍、照料他們的花園、創作和唱出他們的無名歌曲。 文化是我們都沉浸其中的東西，也是我們共同創造、從之延伸意義以及創造社區的媒介，而在這一時刻文化亦是關懷。
ACTIVITY: COMMUNITY PORTRAITS WITH JOYCE XI
Location 地點: Chinese Culture Center Bridge 舊金山中華文化中心(CCC)天橋 | Walter U Lum & Washington St
Hella Tender community portraits! Photographer Joyce Xi will be on site to take photos for community members who would like their portrait taken — bring friends, family, or just yourself.
社區肖像
「友好親切」社區肖像！
攝影師郗雨姗Joyce將會在現場為想要拍攝肖像的社區成員拍照 ——叫上您的朋友、家人或您自己。
ACTIVITY: PLANT PROPAGATION WITH AMY HUYNH
Location 地點: Willie Woo Playground 黃顯護遊樂場 | 830 Sacramento St
“As our ancestors knew, food is medicine. Getting to know my plantcestors through growing my own food has been a pivotal way for me to stay connected to my culture, and stay grounded through caring for another life. We will be learning how to seed and propagate some edible and/or medicinal cultural plant allies. We invite you to (and continue to!) nourish your relationship with plants. Participants will be able to take home their own potted plant at the end of the activity.”
植物繁殖
正如先人所知，食物就是藥材。 通過種植自己的食物來了解我的植物祖先是我與自己的文化保持聯繫並通過照顧另一個生物而保持腳踏實地的生活的關鍵方式。 這個活動將帶領我們一同學習如何播種和繁殖一些可食用和/或藥用的文化植物，並邀請參與者開始並永久滋養他們與植物的關係。 活動結束後，參與者將能夠將自己的盆栽帶回家。
ACTIVITY: CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
Location 地點: Sweetheart Cafe 心意甜品 | 909 GRANT AVE
Chinatown's own Son of Paper (a.k.a. Kyle Shin), will be hosting a creative writing workshop for aspiring writers, poets, and musicians. Creative writing is a mode of expression that is therapeutic, introspective, and empowering. Come join us in our safe space for honing your written voice, our voice-- Chinatown's voice. All skill levels and ages are welcome. Please sign up based on the workshop language that best suits you.
創意寫作工作坊
華埠的SOP將為有抱負的寫作者、詩人和音樂人舉辦一場創意寫作工作坊。
創意寫作是療癒的、內省的和賦能的一種表達方式。
快來加入我們的安全空間，磨礪您的寫作之聲、我們的聲音——華埠的聲音。
我們歡迎所有處於不同熟練程度和年齡的參與者。
請選擇最適合您的語言報名參加工作坊。
ACTIVITY: CALLIGRAPHY DEMONSTRATION WITH MR. YE
書法示範
LOCATION 地點: STYLERS ART GALLERY | 661 JACKSON ST
Mr. Ye: “I will give a studio tour and calligraphy demonstration. Stylers Art Gallery is a studio and gallery I’ve been stewarding for over 20 years in Chinatown. I am a calligrapher by trade and do a calligraphy demonstration and show how I frame artwork using traditional Chinese framing method using fabric and paste.”
書法示範
我將帶領參與者參觀工作室和書法示範。 時代畫廊是我在華埠經營了二十多年的工作室和畫廊。
Chinatown Rising
Film Screening
電影放映 - 唐人街的崛起
MAY 14 @ 3:00-5:30PM
LOCATION 地點: WILLIE WOO CLUBHOUSE | 830 SACRAMENTO ST
About the film
Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1960s, a young San Francisco Chinatown resident armed with a 16mm camera and leftover film scraps from a local TV station, turned his lens onto his community. Totaling more than 20,000 feet of film (10 hours), Harry Chuck's exquisite unreleased footage has captured a divided community's struggles for self-determination. Chinatown Rising is a documentary film about the Asian-American Movement from the perspective of the young residents on the front lines of their historic neighborhood in transition. Through publicly challenging the conservative views of their elders, their demonstrations and protests of the 1960s-1980s rattled the once quiet streets during the community’s shift in power. Forty-five years later, in intimate interviews these activists recall their roles and experiences in response to the need for social change.
關於這部電影
在1960年代中期民權運動的背景下，一位年輕的舊金山華埠居民手持一部16毫米相機和當地電視台的剩餘膠卷，將鏡頭轉向他的社區。一段總長超過20,000英尺（10 小時）的影片，Harry Chuck精彩的未發行鏡頭捕捉了一個意見分裂的社區為爭取自決權的奮鬥。 《唐人街的崛起》（Chinatown Rising）是一部從處於歷史街區前線的年輕居民面對社會轉型的角度出發，關於美亞裔社會運動的紀錄片。 通過公開挑戰他們長輩的保守觀點，他們在1960年代至1980年代的示威和抗議活動在社區權力交接期間震動了曾經安靜的街道。45年後，在深入採訪中，這些草根組織者與活動家回憶起他們在應對社會變革需要時的角色和經歷。
Location 地點: Willie Woo Clubhouse 黃顯護俱樂部 | 830 Sacramento St
